LadyGang - Stephen Colletti spills The Traitors BTS tea

Episode Date: February 10, 2026

We’re going all the way back with Stephen Colletti! Stephen opens up about Laguna Beach, what that time in his life was really like, and why he finally came back to reality TV with The Traitors. Stephen spills on what he actually thinks of Colton Underwood, WTF was going on with the infamous salmon, and how he clocked Lisa Rinna as a possible Traitor before he even stepped into the castle. He also breaks down what really happens at the round tables, behind-the-scenes kitchen secrets, and the mysterious “librarians” of the game, the players who’ve stayed quiet… until now. 🎭🔥We have deals for YOU!!Quince: Refresh your wardrobe! Go to Quince.com/lady for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns!Tonal: Get stronger with Tonal! Get $200 off your purchase with code LADY at Tonal.comSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Well, what is this? Welcome to the Lady Gang. That's amazing. Say that again. The Lady Gang. Things are about to change around here. Each week, we catch up with Hollywood's hottest girl posse, Kelty Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jack Vanek.

Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to the Lady Gang. I'm Becca Tobin here with Jack Vanek and Kelty Knight. We're dressed for a funeral. We are bleep. We did not plan this, and this is what's annoying, is that every time I get dressed, I'm like, okay, let me wear something that the girls will never wear

so we can all be individuals. Beck and I are literally wearing the same shirt right now. And Jack has a version of a black, like sometimes Jack's in a hot pink. Like it's just, you know what? But this is how for 10 years, every photo shoot, every press appearance, everything we've ever done,

we really haven't like been like, what are you wearing? You know, we would just show up and we would be Destiny's Child. So this is just who we are. Yeah, we would always unintentionally match. Do you remember when we went to the Lakers game that one time, like right when we signed our Lady Gang deal and we all showed up in white? Nudes, camels, white and camel. Sexual camel color. It was like so amazing.

Such a weird thing. Yeah. We're so excited because we have Stephen Coletti on the show and the Lady Gang community was stoked about this. And what I love is that they were all broken into little areas. Some of them were like, I need all the One Tree Hill lore. Some of them were like Laguna lore. Some of them are Traders fans like us. I, this man is so handsome. I have fallen in love with him.

Does he think he has a spray tan? We just did the interview. I think he's just a California boy. And remember on Traders, in the beginning, he's like, well, I don't want to brag, but I have a California boating license. Like, I just, I think he just spends his days out on the water, you know? So hot. He's an Orange County boy. Yeah.

They're just right there by the ocean. Love it. Well, it's time for Good Week. Yes, it is. Bad Week. Oh, no. I basically I just want to like quick I did a quick recap on our sub stack of this, but I just want to put it on the podcast. I want to celebrate my good week is that I crushed the Grammys after coming on this podcast and bitching about the Golden Globes and how my career was over. I then went to the Grammys and I have never felt better about myself And my work like it was a mix of I loved my dress. I loved my naked dress It my hair and makeup like everything was perfect I felt so beautiful And then also I did a really good job like all of the studying I did all the work I did behind the scenes

Like the interviews were killer. My bosses were so happy and I just feel like so Proud of myself and I was like, this is it. This is the girl I'm meant to be and then Chris Knight ruins the Grammys. So if you did not watch the Grammy telecast, you need to go to my Instagram. There is a moment where Trevor Noah is doing like a read to camera and there I'm in the, so the carpet had ended and I was supposed to go in. I had a ticket to go in and I was so tired because I had to go out on the carpet. The Grammy carpet starts at 11 AM and the show doesn't start till five, but people, because there's a premiere ceremony where they

give away like rock and African and all these different things. People walk the carpet at like 11. I did my young blood interview at probably 1130 AM. So I was standing out there for so many hours. I was like, I just want to take a minute. I ordered a veggie burger, which also I have something to show you guys, but I ordered this veggie burger I'm eating. And I was like, I'm not going to go in and watch. I'm just going to watch from the hotel room across the street. And I'm watching with Maddie, who's the PA for E and we're sitting there. And I was like, is this real? Like, I thought it was a figment of my imagination. I'm watching the Grammys telecast. There is Chris Knight walking across the screen in front of Trevor. And then he sits

down and then he stands back up and he just like, and Trevor's like yelling at him. Trevor's yelling at him. And I'm like rolling off the bed. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then my phone starts blowing up and everyone's like, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. And I was like, God damn it. So Chris Knight, it was not planned. But what he did tell me is that the camera was like on the back of the stage and Trevor was in the audience. So you, it wasn't like the cameraman was like standing there. So we couldn't see the camera and he couldn't hear anything. And then what, how they do the Grammys is they have all these tables and he's like, it's literally like no one's paying attention to the show. They're just like going table to

table and kikiing with all their different music industry friends. Anyway, he looked hot. I gave him that haircut. It was great. But my favorite part of the night, sorry, my actual good week was I met our super friend, our super fan at the hotel. So, you know, like no one ever recognizes me unless I'm in like a HomeGoods or something, you know. So I'm getting my burger delivered and I'm still in my dress and this woman knocks on the door and she's like, she, she's like, oh my God, Ms. Kelty, Ms. Kelty's here. And I was like, yep. And she, and I just thought she was like ordering, like giving me the order of the food. This woman, I'm going to play this for you. She, she's our biggest fan. Please hold. Is she actually? Yes. Uh, we've just gotten a

burger delivered. Betty is here. She loves Betty. Tell them what you love. You love Jack? Yeah, I'm Jack. I follow him through my first degree. I hate Christmas. Betty hates Christmas! Betty hates Christmas. Love you, Betty. You know what?

I love Betty. She brought me a burger. Betty walks in and she goes, Oh my God, Miss Kelty. And she goes, I'm so excited to see you. When I saw your name on the ticket for room service, I knew I had to deliver your burger. She came up. She kiki'd for 20 minutes. She talked all about First Degree. She was like, First Degree, I love it. Never miss an episode. I love

Lady Gang. And she goes, but I'm a Becca. I hate Christmas. Like she, and I was like, I love her. I was like, this is the best night of my life. I crushed the Grammys, a Lady Gang fan in the wild. Wait, I have a few questions. Number one, the Youngblood interview was so funny to me. I saw a clip of it on TikTok. He's like, he's such a close talker. Like he literally gets within like one inch of your face and there were the video went kind of viral there were so many you know how you can like comment with a picture now on tiktok there were so many comments of screenshots of the interview where he's up in your shit and you're like go home like this well he's very sexual like yeah he he i would let him ruin my life for sure yeah like he's so high he's got

the eyeliner he's like he's ryan ross like no he's like yeah he's a throwback for sure he's throwback Ryan Ross emo, like the dirty hair, the no shirt, the leather low ride pants. I could see a few pubes sticking out. Like he was giving the energy, but I guess it was what was so crazy about it. It was that my first interview of the day and it was like 1130 in the morning, you know? So like for him to roll up with such like hot nighttime sexual energy at like lunchtime, it was like very a brunch interview. It was like, it was literally not even noon. And he'd like put his arm around me and he started talking and like it was just so wild but I actually love this and I I miss this about Hollywood everyone is so afraid of getting canceled and so everyone is so media trained that

like a man star would never get that close to anymore because like in two seconds someone's gonna like me to him you know what I mean but like he didn't give a he walked right over and he was just like all in my grill and I think it's because I was hot but I think he does it to everyone. Probably. Oh my God. Sexual. My second question is I do have questions about the dress. I know that you talked about it on the sub stack. Number one, that I'm pissed that I already had my wedding because I would have loved to wear that dress for something at my wedding. It was such a Jack dress. I'm like, it's beautiful. I loved it so much, but do tell what, and I'm also shocked that your work let you wear that because your, the vagina was literally out. Yeah. So good. Do

I made this dress and when you get a dress made as a drag queen, it was able to cunt to classy. And it, you know, so for the red carpet, the slit went up to like my lower rib cage, like Jennifer Lopez Kendall Jenner style.

And he put little hookin' eyes throughout the underwear and the dress. So essentially I was wearing, I'll stand up if you're watching this on YouTube or video, I was wearing the thong, just a regular thong, but it was hooked up and pinned into like hooked into the dress and then all around the low back it was it was clipped

so I was wearing just a regular like microfiber thong um so it was hooked up and then there were hooks along the slit and so when I went to go interview the hooks were done up so it was just a regular slit oh and I actually had a whole I wore it to the after party but I had a whole cape, like kind of like capelet made because I was convinced that E was not going to let me have the dress on TV because it was basically two slices of fabric. Like there was underboob, there was overboob. They loved it. They were obsessed. So I put the cape to get it approved and then also without. And they were like, we like it without. And like, I didn't even have myself taped. Like I just went balls to the wall. It was, this new E, they're like, whatever you

want Kelty? I'm like, okay, thanks. So I couldn't believe it. I honestly could not believe they let me wear it. Um, but it was great. No, you looked, it might be the best you've ever looked. You know what, Jack, if you have to go, I have it now. Like I have the dress. Like I feel like Becca could wear my critics choice dress to something. Cause it's like off the shoulder, very like midi cute. And then Jack, you can wear that to something. Like if you ever have to go to something, all of the things I'm going to that require, I know you're not, you can wear it to the next like paint and sip yeah I do need something for a 70s if you have anything in your closet for a 1970s glam birthday party oh I have the perfect gold dress I just got it at the thrift it's gold

let me pictures please oh perfect okay sorry um I'll go so speaking of my goals my good week for this week is I did a paint and sip for Michael's in Dallas Valentine or Galentine's Day paint and sip. I was just so excited that they wanted to work with me again. Obviously I did the paint and sips at lady world that were sponsored by Michael's. They're my dream partnership. And it was so cute. Like I walked into the room and I was like, and everything was decorated by Michael's stuff. Like they have so many like decor things now for holidays that I was like, this is the cutest thing ever. Um, it was really cute. Uh, it was for like influencers in Dallas. So nobody knew who I was so it was a little bit intimidating I was wondering I was like who are these people

are they fans like how did we I didn't see you post like do you want to come to my thing so I was no so it was like they have like their own like Michael's influencers like a lot of like crafty girls in Dallas and it was fun to look at everybody afterwards there was one girl that was on love is blind and one girl that was on that show cheer do you guys remember that show yeah um the she was like the tiny little flyer her name was yeah yeah Mackenzie or whatever name Morgan. Morgan. Oh, I loved her. But she like, she quilts, she does all this like amazing quilt work. I'm like, it was so fun seeing like everything that everybody did. Um, but yeah, it was just really fun. I had such a blast and I just feel very honored to work with them. It was,

and I love getting flown out places. I was like, Ooh, that's fun. It was really cute. Um, it's my bad weeks. Not like really about kind of whatever. Um, on my way flight home, you know, I love taking the first flight home. My flight was at 6am and Machine Gun Kelly was on my flight. I saw him as I was walking. I'm like, mom, pretty positive. That's MGK. I'm like, yep. He stood up. He's seven feet tall. And I was really hoping. So we had diamond status for Delta last year. And I literally flew on the last day that I had diamond status before I was going to get demoted to this year to pleb yeah and i was like you know what i'm like they've got to upgrade me they've got to do it just as like a last two raw like maybe i'll get upgraded and sit right next to mgk

and i didn't and i was just back back in the plane and i was just really hoping for it to like show my mom you know sit next to a celeb um but i didn't but he looked hot as ever the riz but i get it it's like he flew i can't believe mgk takes the first flight of a day that doesn't seem like mgk but he probably wasn't bothering him nobody was bothering him it was like no one knows who you are because they're not idiots they're not getting up that early yeah okay yeah i i kind of get it but he was very hot and i love him i also think if he's safe anywhere it's in the first class cabin of an airplane because those people don't know who he is no no no businessmen Yeah. And women, excuse me. Yeah. The demotion from diamond status is hurting you guys. It

sucks. Like I almost wish I didn't have it last year because it's this adjustment that I'm making now is tough. Yeah. Tuffy, tough titties. Okay. My, my bad week, I have to issue an apology because, you know, we were talking a lot about our feelings, my strong feelings about Donna Kelsey going on traitors, really strong feelings. And the impression that it gave me was that she was a thirst trap that she wanted to have, like that she was, we were now in the danger of her wearing white to the wedding, you know, like on paper, the assumption that I made from, from paper was that she was going to be monster in law. She's the sweetest woman. I understand wholeheartedly now why Taylor was like, go spread your wings, Donna, go do you. You're not going to embarrass

the family. You're not going to do anything other than be America's mom on TV and a sweet baby angel. So I'm sorry, Donna. I'm sorry to the whole dynasty, the Kelsey Swift dynasty. so i'm sorry you know well i feel bad for her because it's like she kept saying on the show she's like i'm just such a super fan of everybody like she's just a normal old lady that like likes all these people and i'm like they shouldn't have made her the secret traitor they should have just let her be a faithful and like or a traitor just the secret traitor part was such bullshit like i know putting her on her own island when she's already on her own to anybody And it's like she was having like trouble connecting with people because everybody's like a loud reality star.

And she's just this like grandma, basically. I know. I felt bad. I felt bad for her. Wrong move. I also think like even the whole time I was watching the show, I was like, I would never write her name down. Doesn't matter. It doesn't matter.

I'm never writing. Dorinda, you. You could have gotten invited to that wedding. That's what I feel. Dorinda, I love you. But you wrote her name down. and like that's ridiculous the first time around i could never gang up on her never let her win let her take home the trophy okay anyway so i'm sorry money yeah right interestingly i like i

really i just love like it makes me love taylor and travis together more knowing that their moms are like Mama Swift and Mama Kelsey. Like, you know what? Like, I love that no matter how big they are, the biggest couple in the world, like they're going to go and be able to eat like a macaroni cheese dinner with their parents and their parents are going to treat them normal. Yeah. You know? And like, I am so happy for them. Yeah, I agree. I agree. I agree. Okay. So my good week is that we are ending the year of the snake it's done bye we are we have shed we have shed the skin of the snake and when i say this i don't know how you guys feel but like collectively individually spiritually all of the things the shed toward the end of this

was so crazy. When does it actually end? The 16th of February, I believe, is like the final, final, final. So we're done. Like we're official. No, no, no. So we're almost done. We're almost done. So brace yourselves because I'm sure there's more shedding to be done. I had a astrology reading with my favorite astrologer, Jill Winterstein, It's spiritdaughter on Instagram, if you guys are familiar. And she just told me so many things about myself that I knew in my subconscious, but that I really know deep down. So this is like kind of part two of like my woo woo good week. So she said, like, I came into this world in the first half, like she's like, were your teens and 20s like chaotic? And I know that's

like pretty general because like whose aren't. But the way she described it to me was like, so whatever your seventh house, I can't even, I'm so dumb. I can't even retain this. But then she said this half of my life, my, my life's work at this point forward is to find peace. And she's like, you're not supposed to be doing anything that interrupts your peace or disrupts your peace. And it just really resonated with me because it's true. I'm like, am I lazy? Am I just jaded? Is it that I don't care, but I keep avoiding all of these opportunities that like would not be bringing me peace. And just knowing my gut was right and that there's a random chart that can attest to this. Just validate. Validate that I'm not lazy. I'm just looking for peace. That's, you can just

say that from now on. Thank you, Jill. Becca, we need to have this really hard meeting and you'll just be like jill says i can't come to the zoom i am disrupting my peace she's gonna come on the lady gang because she's just so awesome and she actually i said to her i was like i know i'm a capricorn but i feel quite lazy like i don't i'm not the like person of the lady gang that's like kelty's like the engine that she goes well that's because you're the ceo and i go excuse me come again and we'll talk to her about this i go wait a minute she goes the ceos are not grinding the CEOs are sitting and they're delegating. I want to be the CEO. She goes, that is a bold statement to make for three CEOs. Well, you know what? In this dynamic, and it's because I'm a Capricorn

because she's like, a lot of Capricorns are CEOs. Jack, you're far too creative and you hate a timeline. You're never a CEO. You're something else entirely. I'm a CEO chief everything officer. Well, you're not the CEO. I hate to tell you. She said the CEOs in my life are taking beautiful vacations because they're they've hired the hustlers. They've got the big vision and then they hire the hustlers. And so, you know, hustling sucks. All right. Speaking of hustling, let's hustle on to this interview with as the CEO. I'm ready to move on so much. every child deserves the chance to belong to learn to swim to go to camp to discover what they're capable of but for some families the cost can put them out of reach that's why the YMCA exists as a charity your donation helps more children access programs that help them build confidence make friends and be a part of something bigger because belonging shouldn't have a price tag. Donate to the YMCA today at ymcagta.org slash belong. Now back to the Lady Gang.

Today's guest is someone you absolutely know, absolutely crushed on, and maybe even emotionally projected onto in the early 2000s. He first entered our lives during the golden age of reality TV, survived being labeled the bad guy before his brain was fully developed, not his fault, and then went on to reinvent himself as a legit actor on one of the most iconic teen dramas of all time. You've seen him on Laguna Beach. You've loved him on One Tree Hill. And today he's talking here, talking all things growing up in the public eye, dating in your adult years, unlearning who people thought you were and what it takes to actually evolve when the internet refuses to let you age. And most importantly, he is talking about being a bonafide sex symbol

on this season of The Traitors. Please welcome the very charming, very self-aware and very sweater-wearing on the Traders, Stephen Coletti. I don't have my glasses on, and I did a new setup where I'm trying to read this off my iPad. It did not go well. Kelty, I appreciate that. Quite the introduction there. I do not feel worthy.

Thank you for those kind words. I think, I mean, when we're talking about, you know, just heartthrobs on Traders, I think Rob is taking the cake. I mean, we've got to hand the trophy over to him. Once he busted out the overalls, it was just game over, you know? Well, it's just like it's a good boy, like good guy, bad guy. It's like, which side are you on? I think you guys are like two sides of the same coin to me. See, I disagree. I think Rob gives off from episode one boy energy. And I don't know if it's because I'm an elder millennial, but I don't find that attractive anymore. Like I would have let Rob ruin my life at 25. But honestly, now, Steven, you're and I know, you know, listen, we're all married here. But for the sake of this Tuesday, let's have fun. You're my celebrity crush on traitors. Like when I, I haven't seen, like, listen, I haven't seen you.

I didn't know what you were up to. And then you were announced on the show. I was like, oh, Stephen Coletti. This is such great casting. I wonder what he's up to. And then I saw you sitting there and I was like, oh, he's wearing a wedding ring. He must've gotten married. Damn.

Like that, literally, that's how I've rediscovered you. So you got married? I did. I got married last year. We have a baby on the way as well. And yeah, life is good. You know, we can't complain. We've been around.

I've just kind of been, you know, it's a sea out there in the entertainment industry and we're still floating, just, you know, navigating the waters, if you will. But I'll throw in this. The last few years, James Lafferty from One Tree Hill and I, we started a show called Everyone is Doing Great. Check that out. It'll get you up to speed. It was almost like another version of me if we made terrible decisions all through the rest of our 20s and into our 30s. This is what we would be like. It's an interesting little, you know, fun little ride that we go on with that show.

Also, Kelty, you said that he was a bad boy on Laguna Beach. I feel like he was not. I mean, he couldn't. I'm going to leave this up to you guys, you know? I feel like I remember. No, I just remember there were like a lot of archetypes. And like Steven was always like, oh, the one you marry. Wasn't Jason like the bad guy?

I think so. Yeah, season one, they leaned in a little bit more, I think, bad guy for me. Because they made, and then season two, I think Jason took the reins there. he wasn't in season one, but for me, I remember like there was a big shocking thing about Laguna and the whole love triangle in the first season. I, there was, first of all, they're trying to keep something going as, as they do in reality TV that they heard stories of. And, and, you know, maybe when we're all single as kids do in high school and in life, uh, if you date a couple people for a little while at the same time, but they made it sound like I was full on, like having

an affair the entirety of the second semester of high school. Like it was just casual that this was happening. And I was blatantly cheating on my girlfriend at the time, which was crazy because they would use lines of me saying like, I'm going to be good this time. And, and all that, when I'm referring to me getting cheated on, cause I had never stepped out on, on, on my girlfriend at the time and then use that towards their story. So that was, uh, that was where I was like, okay, they're going to paint me as the bad guy here. I'm the guy that like none of these girl should be with so but we were all you know we all had some maturing to do at that age that's for sure it's so crazy to think about how young you guys were going into that and like how there

was kind of no like you're sort of just going into the whole thing blind like looking back on it that's got to be so crazy because it's like it was kind of the beginning of reality shows as we know them you know but you guys were kids like 15 16 that's so nuts to think about somebody that age now, I guess, at our age. Yeah, you know, the further I get away from it, the more I realize how much we play with fire, just doing that show and really putting our lives in MTV's hands. You know, it was pitched to us as something of like a little documentary about kids in high school in 2004. We're in the 21st century here. Let's see what it's all about, especially when they live in like a beautiful coastal community. We didn't know it was going to be so focused

on our personal lives and also so twisted into our personal lives to really sensationalize what was going on so their story you know was was you know what they wanted it to be but look they did have of course the foundation of all the truth of us knowing each other and and you know different hookups here and there and things getting messy for a little while but um you know i think the and this is where it's okay maybe it's great we didn't have social media back then so we really didn't have to deal with probably what would have been an incredible tidal wave of blowback for, you know, just who we were in the show. And I'm thankful for that. But at the same time, I do remember feeling so helpless because I didn't have a PR team. I didn't

have an agent and a manager. I mean, I was getting them, you know, as the show was coming out, I had nobody to help kind of back me up. I mean, everything that we did was through MTV. They were in control of this little, you know, media aspect of our lives. And so, you know, when something came up in an episode. There was no podcast to come and strain it out on or any social media to put up a post and be like, guys, this is what they're saying because it's completely a 180 from what they're doing. But, you know, we knew we were signing up for something, a little bit of signing your life away. But we really were so naive, of course. You know, you're just so young and so wise at that age. Did you know you wanted to be an actor then or did you get the bug after

that? I actually didn't know I wanted to be an actor then. I had acted in middle school and enjoyed it, but was never going to tell anybody that because it would be social suicide. And my priorities at that age were all about, all right, what's a cool do? Yeah, we're going to play some sports. We're going to go to parties. We're definitely not going to do musical theater. But I remember there was a kid in my grade, he would go up and do commercials. He had his head shot. And I was like, damn, that's really cool. But the irony of it all is doing even Laguna beach was in a way, social suicide for, especially for the guys, the girls were into it. Some of the, you know, all my guy friends were like, dude, you're, you're crazy. And, and,

and calling me names, I can't repeat here, but I was just, I was done with high school at that point. And I was like, I'm ready to, you know, um, you know, not conform anymore and, and, and do, you know, what's, what's interesting to me. And, and I think the reality show was ironically, that was the brick that kind of gave me that opportunity. And from there, you know, I thought i was going to go into hosting i always knew i wanted to work in entertainment that's what it was i thought originally maybe sports broadcasting um something along those lines but with creative writing too um you kind of grew up watching sports center you guys are like screw this we don't care about sports center i like watching sports center in the way that they wrote about highlights and

all that found that entertainment really good so i thought i was gonna maybe go that route uh but then you know started hosting with mtv and and i enjoyed it but i wasn't i wasn't catching a bug there. And, and, um, I did want to try acting and I started studying it and caught the bug there. And so I just, I tried to, you know, hunker down for a while and, and not do any reality and, um, and just, you know, learn a craft and then, and jump in. Thankfully, um, it worked out well. And, and, you know, I did a couple of gigs and then getting One Tree Hill was obviously massive for me. I want to talk about One Tree Hill, but I want to ask you, is it wild to have to sort of like with Laguna like re-teach everyone every time they see you because it was so big it's like

you're essentially competing against a version of yourself that is like layered in pop culture history forever because it was like a real version of you you know what I mean yeah you know I think um throughout my 20s I could not do that and I was very uncomfortable with it uh and look not only the attention i mean we knew there would you're on mtv but we just didn't know it was going to be as popular as it was i truth be told i was using it for connections i was a means to an end to meet people at mtv i was interested in hosting maybe you know carson daly somebody i looked up to as well and so you know you just you don't think about the whole fame of it all and and when it's at that point you know there's not a lot of reality tv so when you're getting fame or

a recognition for this version of your personal life and you've contributed absolutely nothing, but showed up and just you're on camera. You know, I didn't study to be on a reality show. This wasn't like after years of, you know, slumming it in LA, I finally got a show. It's just like you, we were plucked from obscurity, just so random and a victim of circumstance really in that environment. And so it just was so, I was like, this is just so odd, the attention that's coming from this um and and look as time went on um i understood that look at the end of the day and it's like you know why i enjoy storytelling people are watching the show and they're relating to stuff that's going on in their high school life and i think once i kind of learned that as i was

getting older and seeing okay this is why people can connect with it um and also big credit to the editors at mtv and just the way that they're setting everything up and making this you know this intrigue of what's true what's not um you know i started to accept it and say you know what pretty awesome that we got to be a part of something like that. And, and we, I think everyone recognized we all grow up and, and those are the years that we make the most mistakes. And if people can kind of see the show and reflect on the mistakes they were making at that point in their life and see how far they've come. Okay. Now we're talking about a positive thing. Now that's something that I can get on board with, but it took me a long time. Okay. So how did you

get asked to be on Traders? They asked if, if I'd be available for season four, this overwhelming fear of, uh, of, you know, taking on the show and stepping into it, uh, kind of washed over me and, and, and spoke with a lot of people. It was like, I think I'm going to do it. And I'm so glad I did. It's, it's such an incredible show, the producers for it and such, I've had such a positive experience, um, you know, about the way that they run the show, even the way they cut it, they have so much to work with. Uh, you know, now it's, it's like, okay, you know, uh, I, I don't have to be that scared or, you know, just, you know, feel like everything is completely out of my control. You know, you're a little bit more mature adult here, you know who you are,

and that's going to kind of be put forth on camera. And I feel like a version much more close to actually who I am is being shown, even though it's a little more quiet and I'm a little more laid back. But again, in that environment, you know, I was a newbie. You're stepping into the show with a bunch of reality vets and and i haven't been around so loud but look they play their parts so well i'm so impressed with with everyone in the show i i really had a positive experience with everybody i mean i mean even your michael rapaport's who who is just you know he that's who he is forgot about him he's speaking non-stop and you know these guys are and i know obviously he's inscripted but he's done a lot of podcasts and stuff like that so it just the house

wives as well and the gamers you know i didn't i didn't know really anything about any of them too much going in but i was very impressed with all of them and and again the personalities and the smart the wit that is there uh it was it was very impressive so yeah what the is up with the salmon what salmon right the salmon at breakfast did they not feed you why are you guys so intense about the salmon like oh there's salmon i got i need this is this the only meal you got was the only thing that tasted good? Like, is it an inside joke? What is going on with the salmon? How about the salmon, huh? Salmon stock has increased here in the last couple of months thanks to this season of traders. Look, they have limited options there. And I think early on,

we've got a lot of people, you know, 2023 in the first few episodes, and there's like maybe one or two plates and it goes quickly. And if you're one of the last people to come through that door, it's going to be gone by the time you get in there. And after a couple episodes, you're realizing that and when there's only hard-boiled eggs for protein and uh smoked salmon you're like man like i gotta get something like there's there's just carbs for days we've got every pastry under the sun in front of us maybe a plate of fruit like if i need something nutritious some energy i'm trying to put forth you know a strong foot in the uh the missions here so i gotta have some some solid amount of protein uh let's um you know let's make sure we're gunning for it

So I think, yeah, people were, of course, as we do in this business, complaining about the food and, you know, people were starting to fight over it. They did step it up, though. Production heard us and wanted to make sure they were stepping up. Having Kristen Kish, the chef, there was a key, key addition. I mean, she was leading the charge early on. I was like, what can we do to get some aromatics introduced to our meals here? Because we're just getting like, you know, sad chicken over here. Like lunchtime would just be like a boiled chicken.

It was like, can we do something? I thought there was probably a separate like catering area where you guys went after to like actually have breakfast. That's the real breakfast? That is. That is. There is in the kitchen there. That is fully outfitted, the one in the show. They've got all the goodies, you know, in the center trench there, if you will.

the the fridge is stocked you've got some you know immunity shots and stuff like that um but not a lot of healthy snacks you know i think in there it's all just snacking stuff you know you're getting some peanut butter pretzels stuff like that where you can eat a million of but not necessarily the best for you you're listening to the lady gang i have a question so the scene where they're actually going to choose the traitor where you're all at the round table. Alan's walking around. He's like tapping everybody on the shoulder. I want to know how that felt because I feel like that's like the scariest feeling ever. You're trying not to do anything to draw attention on yourself. It's one thing to be in a crowded room where people are

speaking and getting to know each other or outside. But once you sit down on that table, it's, you know, you're really, really aware of yourself and what, like, how hard are you breathing is like i can see my heart beating through my chest like all right just just try to keep it calm let's try some breathing exercises so we're not drawing any attention and and like make some eye contact with people so that is the most tense moment especially on i mean getting up there for day one was had its own such a build-up to to that moment um but yeah when everyone's supposed to be quiet and and you're noticing every little thing um that that was a tough moment so yeah What was Colton really like? All the girls in our Facebook group are like, we need to know what Colton was really like because Colton's getting a villain edit. But I don't know if that was like really he was that like you can't go in thinking, oh, I'm going to be that loud and that like heavy on gameplay and not get kicked off.

like essentially starting now after this episode of last week the only people that are left are like the librarians it's all you quiet people someone's gonna have to start talking you mark tara johnny like none of these people other than dorinda have really done a lot of gameplay you know maybe eric a little bit but what was loud gameplay there's like yeah yeah well let me let me stand up for the librarians for a second here first we were speaking quite a bit um we did have a lot of conversations and and we're engaged i think the end of the day there are those louder voices that tend to get um you know more screen time um and that's fine i mean that's i think it's a part of you can say kristin eric uh mark myself it's a part of our strategy to sit back

a little bit in my personal opinion if you go into that game and and you're a loud voice like you're putting a target on your back and i don't i think your odds of making it to the end are going to be lower they're there but i just think that they're lower so i saw that in the game was like all right we're going to sit back but we did have plenty of conversations but when you got somebody um that's leading the charge like we were calling colton varsity i mean we were happy to have colton rally the troops and it's interesting to hear you say you think he's getting the villain edit because i'm seeing him just lead the charge a lot which was the position that he knew that he was taking on and he wanted to.

He said, it's just kind of the way he rolls. You know, he's an athlete and likes to, you know, take charge and want to rally the troops and not be more timid. So we were happy to have him do that. And look, we were kind of- But were you like, oh good, you do it so I can sit back and stay longer?

100%. I was like, great. Yeah, I would like that too. One of our first conversations, he was like, oh, you're going to be timid, aren't you? I was like, yeah, man. I mean, I, I, I'm just, you know, I'm new here. I'm, I'm just stepping into this. So, um, I wasn't going to tell him like, yeah, dude, what do you mean? Like you, you want to be chill, like just

relax and then see what happens when to get to the later episodes. But yeah, he was like, that's, that's just not my nature. You know, he says, as he says in the show, he's like, I'm a gunner. So, um, you know, I did feel like he was always a faithful though. And I didn't necessarily think that he was a traitor. I was extremely disappointed to see in this latest episode that, uh, he was calling me out to Johnny. But, um, yeah, he was, um, I thought he was a great leader of the faithfuls. Um, you know, we all got along great and everyone had a good experience with him. I think maybe Michael would say something different in this moment, but even after that, I feel like they've, they kind of squashed it and Michael apologized. Uh, they had a fun rapport, you know,

they were going at it. They were just a couple of boxers getting in the rink and like to throw jabs and, um, yeah, that was their gameplay. So, uh, the librarians, you know, we, we might get some grief here online for doing absolutely nothing contributing absolutely nothing to this game but uh rest assured i'm here to say psa we did contribute we were validating uh some evidence from other folks from guys like colton who would come in and he would just like he said to johnny uh in episode seven after the black banquet he's like take him on to steven now he didn't have any evidence there which i can question here but that he would start those conversations with people and he went around the castle doing that. And so, you know, for that, he's, he's going to be one

of those guys that's, that's going to get that more camera time, uh, more camera time. And then also, you know, be labeled one of the kind of leaders of the faithful. So like up until this point where we are watching the show, did you have any idea who any of the traders were or like, where was your mind going in that realm? I'm keeping it. I think I'm going to, I'm going to release some of this stuff, but I have a lot of notes that I was taking, of course, back in my room. I'm keeping track of everyone's votes on which day and really trying to connect the dots there. It's kind of like that, what's that meme where he's got the red string going from one picture. What's his name from It's Always Sunny? There you go. Thank you. Yeah. That is 100% me.

And same IQ there of just like, all right, I got this figured out, right? You're like, we're nailing it. And then you'd go into some of your round tables and you're like, I'm not nailing it, but we're doing okay. I, you know, when I had suspicions confirmed on Lisa, when that started coming around, I needed to clear Ron. So that's why I didn't vote for her. The first time it came about, I just had, there was other evidence while Ron put up a great case at the round table for himself. And I was, you know, kind of dreading my vote after the fact, um, there was still some evidence, some of it that you don't see just in conversations and and mannerisms and whatnot that left suspicion and had to clear that. But, um, as soon as we

got Ron out, then it was like, okay, yeah, I'm on to Lisa now. Um, did you have some good suspicions on Candace? Like, did you feel that from the beginning or were you surprised by that? Cause that kind of came out of nowhere. Yeah. Um, I did have suspicions of, of Candace, you know, and actually I, I will credit my, uh, my wife for this. Uh, and she was talking about, you know, some of the housewives, Rinna, who was rumored to be on the show. She was saying, you know, if she's there there's a good chance that she'll want to be a traitor and sure enough that was correct and that did help me in the game um you know we went through a whole list of people before like housewives and candace was on the list um and she said yeah i could kind of see her doing that

and early on i rode up to the castle with candace also with more and jam jam and you kind of form an immediate bond with those folks that you ride up to the castle on day one with so i thought i had trust there um but as the game was going on it wasn't really building and so it left a question mark on her for me and as soon as you know that rob vote happened in episode seven there was it's just one thing you didn't see besides her saying um it's a throwaway vote she also said i just kind of looked across the table and i saw you there rob and that to me really added extra like hmm She's not going for Lisa here. So that's just major suspicion.

And then you're adding a bunch of other little evidence. Other people are feeling the same way. So I was happy to vote for Candace. I felt like it was a strong vote. And yeah, when she got heat on her, there was a lot that was going sideways. So I had my suspicion of her. And yeah, it was confirmed.

I feel like when she started the conga line, like early, early, early episodes. I know, the whole time. I thought that there was a bunch of talk of the conga line And it wasn't that weird that she ended up saying that. Is that true? Correct. It was actually talked about before.

There was. So the show did a great job of like presenting that as it just popped up. But you could see the way she presents it in the room. She's like, Candace, like, I think, you know, it's not, you know, it's now's a good time for the conga line. Everyone's like, yeah, let's do it. You know, so it was something that I think Lisa had brought up before, before they knew what they had to do to distract all of us. So, um, Candace is so smart, uh, and, and such a good trader. Uh, she did make bold moves early on.

I thought watching the show now and even doing the Congo line, which is drawing some attention, you could see the gamers are picking up on that. Like RIP to, to Rob C, the other Rob, uh, for his call out, which was such a brilliant moment. Um, and yeah, I mean, if, if he was still there, Candace probably would have been out, uh, a lot sooner, but, um, yeah, bold move there. I am frustrated though. It's the faithfuls are eating out of Rob's hand

and the fact that she gave us this brilliant clue, which I think is good. And she wasn't going to say it because of course the producers would be on her, but she's trying to say it. Like I'm writing this down for a reason and we're all just like, why would you say Rob?

You know, what are we doing here? I know. Yeah. All right. One last traders question. Then I want to talk about some other stuff, but you just mentioned, And so before you went on, you got a list of the people it might be, or your wife was like,

it's Peacock. They're going to have housewives. Let me give school you and housewives. How did that happen? Because this is brilliant. Yeah. Yeah. It was the latter. I don't have an extensive housewife knowledge and my wife does. And we were following rumors online and just kind of preparing ourselves for, all right, these are the housewives that could be on it based off the rumors, at least maybe one of them, you know, might be on it. And then we'll be able, I'll be able to use some of that information. Um, but there were actually two and Candace and Rinna were, were two of them. And she taught you about them. So she was like, here's what they do. Have they been on the show? She got full breakdown. We're watching, um, you know, a bunch of TikTok

videos of Rinna and her dancing. Um, we were learning about Candace and what she's into. And I think, I think she even talked about her astrology and, and, uh, how Candace was into this. and the first meeting with Candace in the car, she's talking about, when's your birthday? What's your sign? And we're talking astrology. So funny how it worked out that way.

And she did, she was like, 100%, I feel like Rinna could be a traitor. So just keep that in mind. And Candace, I think, can be one as well. But also, she's very truthful and maybe more religious. And so she could be somebody who doesn't want to lie the whole game,

but could still see her playing the character. And sure enough, you see the show like those those two are just, you know, very well cast for that for that. Yeah. I mean, Rob, too. They really killed it with all the traitors. Poor Donna. Like, why? Why did they have to make her the secret traitor? Like, it's so crazy to me. Were they trying to get her off because she wasn't exciting to watch? Like, I don't understand how that happened. I feel like they're trying to keep her. No, they wanted her.

Yeah, gone too soon. I think the secret traders are a great idea. And of course, it would have been an awesome spin for the season. We had no idea that there was a secret trader and that the traders didn't know about the other trader. And it really throws a wrinkle in that voting. I'm keeping track and Candace voted for Donna. So they're not showing it, but I keep bringing up the Donnas. And the Donnas are the people that voted for Donna, stuck to her even though she was a trader and it was moving to Portia. And so that really saved Candice a lot for a while. But now I know that, of course, she didn't know that it was Donna. So, yeah, I think that, man, a secret trader, what a fun opportunity that was. And similar to how I felt going in the game. This is an environment none of us are really used to, but I think some can step into that game a little bit quicker than others. And Donna, like myself, I felt like it's like, all right, this is a bit of an intimidating atmosphere. We need to ease into it. And she got just thrown into the hornet's nest immediately with that role. And I think it would rattle most. Listen, we love you on Traders.

It's so great to see you on our screens again. We love it. So whenever you get these offers and you're like, oh, I don't know. Like, I don't think you can do anything wrong. Like, I think that it doesn't come across cheesy. It doesn't come across tryhard. Like, it comes across very cool. Yeah.

Anyway, on that note, thank you for coming. And we will see you next Tuesday. See you next Tuesday. Lady Gang is hosted and produced by Kelty Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jack Vanek with social media support from Kali Carrera, audio and video editing from Jared Monaco, and additional support from Steve Delameter and Podcast One. mornings without coffee road trips without snacks movies without popcorn without our favorite foods we'd miss out on all our favorite moments